Litigation, Dispute Resolution and Investigations

Third-party litigation funding

As outlined in our briefing LRC recommendations on Third-Party Litigation Funding expected in Spring 2026, the Law Reform Commission (LRC) has indicated that its report on third-party litigation funding is at an advanced stage, with final stakeholder meetings planned for early 2026. The LRC expects to publish its recommendations in late spring 2026.

The LRC recommendations are highly anticipated as they will inform whether there will be any change to the existing prohibition against third-party litigation funding in Ireland and the regulation of third-party litigation funding. The LRC recommendations come against the backdrop of a recent announcement by the European Commission that it is not proceeding with plans to regulate third-party litigation funding at an EU level at this time. This development is discussed in our briefing European Commission suspends plans to regulate Third-Party Litigation Funding.

The LRC recommendations are particularly relevant in the context of representative actions (discussed below) and also to commercial arbitration as they will likely inform the commencement of section 124 of the Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2023 (2023 Act) which was signed into law on 5 July 2023 and is discussed in our briefing Third Party Funding of International Commercial Arbitration in Ireland. Once commenced, s.124 of the 2023 Act will permit third-party funding of commercial arbitrations which fall within the scope of section 5A of the Arbitration Act 2010 (as amended).

Representative actions

As discussed in our briefing Representative actions in Ireland: Key developments in 2025, following the issuance of Ireland’s first representative action pursuant to the Representative Actions for the Protection of the Collective Interests of Consumers Act 2023 in May 2025 and with the number of qualified entities growing at an Irish and European level, further representative actions are anticipated in 2026.

The awaited LRC recommendations on the issue of third-party litigation funding have the potential to significantly impact collective litigation in Ireland. A relaxation on the current prohibition on third-party litigation funding in Ireland would inevitably add further momentum to the use of the representative action mechanism in Ireland, particularly as regards representative actions seeking redress, given the likely costs associated with any representative action.

Digitalisation of litigation

As discussed in our briefing Modernisation and digitalisation of litigating in Ireland: 2025 in review, 2025 has been a landmark year in the modernisation of litigation in Ireland following the publication of court rules facilitating the digitalisation of civil proceedings including the filing, issuing and service of documents digitally, and providing for the making and transmission of a Statement of Truth in place of an affidavit in proceedings where digital delivery is authorised.

Whilst the scope of digital delivery remains limited at present, the Courts Service has signalled an expanded roll-out across High Court proceedings in 2026. Given the significant efficiencies digitalisation can bring to the litigation process, it is important to be alert to forthcoming practice directions authorising digital delivery in additional categories of proceedings and the corresponding opportunities to issue, file and serve documents digitally and to utilise Statements of Truth in place of affidavits.

AI

The rapid development and adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and in particular Generative AI (GenAI), presents opportunities and challenges, for the judiciary, for practitioners and for parties to litigation before the Irish Courts.

In response to the increasing use of AI and GenAI, the past year has seen the publication of Guidelines for Judges on the Responsible Use of GenAI, Law Society of Ireland Guidelines for the use of generative artificial intelligence by the legal profession in Ireland and The Bar of Ireland’s Ethical Toolkit: Ethical Use and Use Cases for Artificial Intelligence in Legal Practice.

In 2026, the impact of the widespread use of GenAI tools on discovery will become increasingly apparent given the discoverability of AI generated materials and material generated incidental to the use of AI tools (such as written prompts between the user and the AI platform) which are incorporated into the discoverable sources referenced in the Commercial Litigation Association of Ireland’s 3rd Edition of the Good Practice Discovery Guide published in December 2025.

The potential for GenAI use to compromise claims of privilege is also expected to attract increasing scrutiny.

Product liability and product safety

The EU and UK recently introduced several legislative changes, updating product liability and safety regimes to address sustainability and digital evolution, discussed in detail in our briefing, Evolving product liability and safety landscape: recent and upcoming regulatory developments.

There are significant developments emerging in the area of product liability and product safety. Draft legislation to transpose the EU Product Liability Directive is due ahead of the transposition deadline of 9 December 2026. The introduction of Digital Product Passports pursuant to the Eco-design for Sustainable Products Regulation, will begin in 2026, and a new Toy Safety Regulation came into effect on 1 January 2026, with full applicability coming on 1 August 2030.

The practical interaction of these frameworks, particularly regarding Digital Product Passports, market surveillance and expanded liability exposure for economic operators merits close attention.

Defamation

We expect to see continued momentum towards the reform of Ireland’s defamation laws in 2026 as the Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024 (the Bill) moves close to enactment.

Since the restoration of the Bill to the Dáil Order paper on 18 February 2025, the Bill has been amended to include several additional key reforms. As discussed in our briefing, Defamation reform back on the legislative agenda, when the Bill was originally published the Department of Justice press release noted that several additional key reforms were still being finalised and would be brought in as amendments during the Bill’s passage through the Oireachtas. The reforms reflected in amendments to the Bill include an amendment to enable the Circuit Court make Norwich Pharmacal identification orders in defamation matters (currently only available in the High Court), a simplification of the defence of publication on a matter of public interest and an expansion of the requirement to publish Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation judgments beyond the Circuit Court to any court that makes a finding of abusive proceedings against public participation in a defamation action.

Having been passed by Dáil Eireann on 2 July 2025, the Bill is currently at the Seanad Third Stage. Once it has completed the Seanad Fifth Stage, it will be sent to the President to be signed into law.

Reform of Civil Litigation Procedure

Significant reform of civil litigation procedure will be progressed in 2026 following the publication of the General Scheme of a Civil Reform Bill on 6 January 2026 by the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration.

The General Scheme of the Civil Reform Bill addresses various recommendations of the Review of the Administration of Civil Justice which was completed in October 2020.

The proposed reforms outlined in the General Scheme include the reform of civil litigation procedure governing judicial review and discovery and an increase in the monetary jurisdiction of the District and Circuit Courts.

Please contact a member of our Litigation, Dispute Resolution and Investigations Group or your usual Arthur Cox contact for more information.